Kitchen ideas and designs

It really can be the small, simple details of kitchen design - tailored to the way that you cook and use the space - that make your space a joy to use. From ergonomic islands to modular cabinets and hidden storage, in this gallery you'll find hundreds of images from the House & Garden archive. Things to inspire whether you live in a stately home, a small flat or a tiny ancient cottage. Consult our online directory The List where you'll find specialist kitchen designers, bespoke cabinet makers & joiners, carpenters, interior designers, architects and builders in your area to help you with your project.

'I didn't want the design to be too modern, so I worked with Tom Bayley of Quartet Interiors to create an understated Shaker style,' says Flora Soames, the interior designer of this custom made London kitchen. 'The bespoke island unit is based on a vintage piece: the brushed stainless steel and carrara marble look elegant, so the island links well with the drawing room beyond.'

The cheerful colour palate was influenced by a piece of art belonging to the owners. The kitchen units are painted in 'Down Pipe' by Farrow & Ball, with walls in shaded white by Farrow & Ball - 'for London houses this is the perfect base for bolder colours.' The Ashley Hicks Moroccan tiles are from Popham Design; Flora chose the geometric tile motif to allow the kitchen to 'own' its space with the open plan living room.

Keith McNally, known as the 'man who invented downtown New York', is one of the most successful restaurant owners of the last three decades. On returning to his London roots to open the UK leg of his restaurant Balthazar, Keith and his wife Alina moved to Notting Hill.

His practiced eye uses vintage finds and old materials to give his interiors an ambience that never strays into pastiche. Working with architect Charles Tashima and designer Ian McPheely, with whom Keith works on all his restaurants, they stripped out the interiors and started again.

Unsurprisingly, food and entertaining are central to the family's home life, and the design of the kitchen was a priority. Vermont pine was used for the cabinets, rather than pale English wood, for its rich warmth and depth. All were made in New York and shipped over; as were the reconditioned tiles, most of which are over 100 years old and come from demolished or refurbished factories.

The ceiling was finished by a craftsman he always works with in the States, who carefully applied imperfect plaster; creating a texture that allowed a glaze of raw sienna and yellow ochre to collect in the grooves, which gives the walls an aged finish. French cafe chairs from Maison Gatti add colour, while copper worktops are chic but practical.

Taken from the April 2012 issue of House & Garden. Additional text: Liz Elliot.

In Mimi Thorisson's kitchen in her home in the Médoc region of France, a collection of antique copper pans hangs above a dark wood chest which stores bottles of wine for entertaining. Chequerboard tiled floor adds to the rustic farmhouse feel.

In this kitchen area, traditional and contemporary pieces work together and a mix of chairs around the dining table create an informal look. Carrara-marble-topped units are painted in 'Hague Blue' by Farrow & Ball, while a mustard blind from Susan Deliss brings warmth to the space. Open-plan living is made cosy with warm touches in this mews house in London owned by designer Caroline Riddell.

We love the idea of painting kitchen joinery in cheerful primary colours, like these by Plain English 'diffusion' brand British Standard. Handcrafted in Suffolk, their cupboards start at £400 and go up to £5,000 for a full kitchen. They also have a beautiful showroom at 41 Hoxton Square, London N1.

"Furniture and architecture must complement one another to make the narrative coherent. I've chosen 20th-century furniture to contrast with the period architecture," says architect Helena Rivera of her home in Brixton, where she lives with her husband and two sons. "I chose wide, 1850s-style floorboards, and had them distressed. The walls are painted fresh white but the kitchen cupboards are in 'Kitchen Green' from Little Greene."

A fourth-generation Parisian art dealer, Patrick Perrin has filled his apartment (belonging to his family for the better part of a century) with inherited treasures and modern finds. The kitchen mixes checkerboard flooring with gleaming chrome and simple storage for a look that's black, and white and chic all over. It's separated from dining room by a glass partition.

Taken from the November 2013 issue of House & Garden. Additional text: Ian Phillips.

Want to mix old and new in your kitchen design? Let this hotel designer's kitchen in west London be a masterclass. A portrait of an unknown chef that belonged to the owner's father hangs above a cantilevered stainless-steel table, accessorised with contrasting neon chairs.

Taken from the November 2013 issue of House & Garden. Additional text: Claire Wrathall.

Bodil Blain and her husband lived in their Bayswater flat for a year without doing anything. 'It's the best advice I can give,' she says. 'After that you really know what's needed and what isn't.' Bodil later designed the kitchen herself, working with her friend, the designer Fiona Parke, and going through 25 drawings or more. She praises her cabinetmaker, Neil Straker of Cheverell, as 'the most patient man on the planet'. The look, with white units, marble worktop and crisp colours reflects Bodil's time in New York, and indeed the handles come from the US, as she could not find what she wanted here. She opted for encaustic floor tiles in shades of aubergine, blue and white. For similar, try Evora tiles from Fired Earth. Each tile measures 20cm square and costs £8.99.

Taken from the July 2013 issue of House & Garden. Additional text: Hatta Byng and Emily Tobin.

A modern extension was built to house the New England-style kitchen, which incorporates a Victorian skylight and tongue-and-groove panelling. Kitchen units are topped with light-reflecting, white Carrara marble - one of interior designer Diana Sieff's distinctive decorating touches done while renovating her home, a former chapel in Oxfordshire.

Taken from the November 2013 issue of House & Garden. Additional text: Alice B-B.

Will Fisher runs Jamb in Pimlico Road, London. Dealing in antiques and immaculately reproduced eighteenth- and nineteenth-century chimneypieces, lights and garden ornaments, Will and his wife Charlotte have brought the English country-house look to the mainstream aesthetic. Each of the flagstones in the kitchen of their eighteenth-century house in south-east London have been hand-tooled to the same size and depth, an example of Will's attention to detail.

Taken from the September 2013 issue of House & Garden. Additional text: Liz Elliot.